http://www.ign.com/blogs/requiem95
Wed, 27 Mar 2013 06:56:26 -0700IGN Entertainment, Inc.Oysteren-ushttp://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rsshttp://www.ign.com/blogs/requiem95/2013/03/27/kickstarter-campaign-for-new-ocean-adventure-game-from-original-ecco-the-dolphin-developers
It's not technically a new Ecco the Dolphin game, but "Big Blue" still looks great so far. Spencer Nilson is back for the soundtrack, and his score for the Sega CD version of the original Ecco was nothing short of incredible.

]]>Wed, 27 Mar 2013 06:56:26 -0700Edithttp://www.ign.com/blogs/requiem95/2013/03/27/kickstarter-campaign-for-new-ocean-adventure-game-from-original-ecco-the-dolphin-developers#article_commentshttp://www.ign.com/blogs/requiem95/2012/10/04/a-lost-genre-and-how-nintendo-can-bring-it-back
No other company can claim as many franchises that pull at the nostalgic heart-strings as Nintendo. Those of us who grew up in the 1980’s have fond memories of so many of these old NES classics. Super Mario Brothers. Donkey Kong. The Legend of Zelda. Metroid. Excitebike. Punch Out! These games, among others, were synonymous with the Nintendo experience, so much so that all of them have been given sequels, re-releases, and remakes in the current age, when nostalgia can so easily be digitally delivered at a fraction of the cost of the original games.

"Now, You&#Array;re Playing with Guns!... Uh, I mean POWER!"

Despite not jumping on the mobile games bandwagon, Nintendo has created several of its own methods for capitalizing on its heritage: Anniversary collections of the Mario and Kirby games, 3-D re-imaginations on the 3DS, and of course, Virtual Console content on both the Wii and the 3DS. We have almost any game we could want, from Kid Icarus to Wrecking Crew. Yet when one looks at the catalogue of Nintendo classics currently available through any of these means, to me, a single game is noticeably absent. No, I’m not thinking about the FX-chip nightmare that prevents us from playing Yoshi’s Island, nor the lack of a US release of Earthbound. I’m even more concerned with a game that was so central to the experience of the original NES that it actually came packaged with the system.

Duck Hunt.

For those who have never played it, Duck Hunt was a simple light gun shooter where the player and his rather insulting dog had a set number of bullets with which to shoot down as many zig-zagging fowl as possible. It was a simple game, yes; one intended to highlight the system’s pack-in zapper, but it left an indelible mark on the NES culture at the time. Every now and then, you still see images from Duck Hunt grace the front of a $20 shirt at Hot Topic, or internet .gif images of the cackling hound.

Don&#Array;t look so surprised, giggle-bags.

However, I’m really only using Duck Hunt as an example for a larger question, which is as follows: Why the &*$% are there absolutely no classic light gun games available on the Wii? We have Wrecking Crew, but no Duck Hunt? We have Clu Clu Land, but no Hogan’s Alley?

Overall, the light gun genre has certainly taken a downturn in the past several console generations. What used to be a staple of the arcade scene has been abandoned to the same fate as arcades themselves. The Dreamcast had some good offerings, but since then there has been little support of these kinds of games. Part of this has undoubtedly been the backlash against violence in video games since the 1990’s, a movement that prompted Sega to shy away from releasing their own first-party Dreamcast gun in favor of allowing third parties to fill the void.

But parental concerns and congressional investigations are not totally to blame. As home console games have become larger in scope (and budget), the quick fix of a thirty minute bullet-fest of shooting zombies, aliens, or even ducks in the face doesn’t fit the new gaming mold, but given the rise of the bite-sized downloadable sphere, there may yet be a future for light-gunning gamers. Even American Laser Games thought there was enough demand for these games to re-release Mad Dog McCree, I would make the bet that people would pay five bucks for Hogan’s Alley on the Virtual Console.

There have, in fact, been a few decent retail release outings on Wii in the light gun genre; from third parties, that is. Examples include Capcom’s Resident Evil: the Umbrella Chronicles, EA’s Dead Space Extraction, and Sega’s arcade titles like Gunblade and The House of the Dead. However, Nintendo’s only support for their own light gun peripheral has been the pack-in, Link’s Crossbow Training. Would it really be too much trouble to drop some games from their old catalogue onto Wii’s Virtual Console?

Do you think these guys passed the background check?

I know the easy answer is that each game would have to be reprogrammed to work with Wii remotes, as the NES zapper worked with different technology. But that effort seems menial compared to the 3D polish that Nintendo has put on their 3DS 3D Classics line, and how many people out there were really clamoring for a revamped Urban Champion in 3D? How about Xevious?

The Wii itself is a unique system for the light gun genre in that consumers would not be required to buy extra peripherals to play these types of games. Just turn the Wii remote on its side and you’re ready to go. It may be late in this generation to hope for classics in this genre to receive a new lease on life, but the WiiU is just as capable of delivering these games. And who knows? If successful, we could get Virtual Console games from other consoles: Sega Master System Gangster Town, SNES Battleclash, arcade Virtua Cop, or the amazing Genesis Menacer titles such as… well, maybe there’s no need to grasp at straws.

Dear Nintendo, I have five bucks and would like to shoot some ducks. Thanks.

Gangster Town on Sega Master System

Battleclash on SNES

]]>Thu, 04 Oct 2012 06:11:44 -0700Edithttp://www.ign.com/blogs/requiem95/2012/10/04/a-lost-genre-and-how-nintendo-can-bring-it-back#article_commentshttp://www.ign.com/blogs/requiem95/2012/03/10/just-a-quick-note-about-me
As a first blog, I thought I should just give people a little bit of gaming-related background information on myself. This way, anything I post later will be coupled with at least a small snippet of characterization. So, here goes nothing...

-Male born in 1980.

-Favorite game of all time: Super Metroid

-Favorite gaming system of all time: Sega Genesis

-First gaming system: the Sega Master System

-First game I bought on launch day: Mortal Kombat for Sega Game Gear (Mortal Monday, September 13, 1993)

-First system I bought on launch day: Sega Dreamcast

-Biggest game accomplishment: Beating Shinobi on PS2

-My stranded on a desert island game: Tempest 2000 (Atari Jaguar)

I'm an old school gamer and a huge Sega fanboy almost to a fault. That being said I will give almost any game a try and enjoy a lot of what is out there. I play mostly sing;e-player games although I do pop up online from time to time, depending on the game. I particularly don't care much for either Sony or EA, either, and try my best to keep from buying their games. I am also one of those annoying individuals who will pretty much play any game with zombies in it.

There you go. You know me more than you did 5 minutes ago and thank you for reading!